This invention relates to an apparatus for electrocleaning and electroplating metallic surfaces and, more particularly, to an apparatus for carrying out electrolytic cleaning and electroplating operations in which the surface to be plated is subjected to a rubbing or brushing action as the electrolytic action takes place. Apparatus for brush plating of metal is well known in the art, and usually takes the form of a hand tool which is rubbed or brushed against the surface to be plated as electrolytic action takes place. In the usual form, the tool has a terminal which is made anodic with respect to a workpiece for plating and cathodic for electroetching or electrocleaning. The conductive terminal is encased in a porous dielectric fabric that is saturated with electrolyte and rubbed over the surface to be treated.
Brush plating has ordinarily been carried out with hand tools, but difficulties are encountered in such operations because of non-uniformity of deposition of metals and because the brush plating operation may be tedious and time-consuming when relatively large areas are involved.
Apparatus for brush cleaning and brush plating relatively small areas, such as the inner surfaces of small bores, have been successfully used, apparatus of this type being shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,183,176 and 3,313,715, both granted to B. A. Schwartz, Jr. A power-operated, manually controlled tool for brush electroplating is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,343, issued to A. J. Macula et al. The methods and apparatus of these patents have been utilized successfully to produce high quality brush plating, but they have not been adaptable to the brush plating of large areas because the hand operation is not only expensive, because of the time involved, but also the quality of the plating may vary and the thickness of the plating in various parts of the same surface may vary considerably.